Disappearing door



Mar. 20, 1923.

H. A. JOHNSON ET AL.

DISAPPEARING DOOR.

2 SHEETSSHEET L FILED IIIAY 6| 1921.

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L qgmventozs ,0 9 HUWHRDHJTDHNEDN $51 M flbtomwi xf 7 5 4 m 00 u 8 w 4 4n 1 n H s 2 L A. R- T EMT. N 1 0 6 m Mu OPD IJDIE u Am 0D H 3 2 9 1 0 2R m Patented Mar. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. JOHNSON AND CHARLES MAISEY, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

DISAPPEARING DOOR.

Application filed May 6, 1921. Serial No. 467,491.

To all whom. it may concern: which preferably have each a pair of wheelsBe it known that we, HOWARD A. JOHN 4, 4, wheels 4 running on suitabletracks SON and CHARLES MAIsEY, citizens of the as hereinafter described.In the form of United States, and residents of Norfolk, apparatusillustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, we pre- 7 Virginia, have invented certainnew and use fer that one of the casters 3 be fixed to them fulImprovements in Disappearing Doors, door at the bottom on the verticalcentral of which the following is a disclosure. line of the door andthat the other be fixed Our invention relates to doors mounted to thedoor at or near the lower corner to slide and at the same time adaptedto which is at the rear of the closet when the be turned throii'gh ananglein moving from door is fully open. The wheels of the caster 65closed to open position and thereverse. 3 at the lower corner of thedoor run on a The principal object of our invention is track extendingat right angles to the rear to provide a door mechanism oi the type wall1 of the closet and having spaced paralmentioned which shall be simplein corn lel track members 5. 5, preferably set flush struction andeconomical in IDZLDUfZICtLIIE. with the surface of the floor of thecloset 70' A second object of our inventionis to proon which the wheelsof the caster run. The vide a door arrangement capable of tur wheels ofthe caster 3 on the central line ing through a full 90 degree angle andwhich of the door run on a track at right angles shall be readilyinstalled. to the track members 5, 5, the latter track The novelfeaturesof our invention are comprising track members 6, 6, the. two 7pointed out with particularity in the aptracks being connected bv a frogmember 7 pended'claims. The inventio itself, howillustrated in detail inFig. 4*. The caster ever, with further objects and advantages,cooperating withtraek members 5. 5 is prowill best be understood fromthe following 'vided with a guide shoe 8 which travels in descriptiontaken in connection with the apa groove 9 between members 5. 5. Thecaster pended drawings in whi h cooperating with track members 6, 6 ispro- Fi 1 i ti l ti th h a vided with guide prongs 10. 10 on each sidecloset equipped with a. d r ha i m e of its vertical axis which projectinto the cording to our invention. the door being groove 11 between themembers 6. 6. The

0 shown open. groove 11 is deeper than required for the Fig. 2 1s adetail sectio n th ling 2-2 shoe 8 and the extension 9 of the groove 9of Fig. 1. parts being broken awav. m the frog member 7 is onlv deepenough Fig. 3 is a horizontal section illustratin to a commodate theshoe 8.. 'lhepron s two adjacent closets. both equipped with 10 projectdownwardly to a level below that 35 door mechanism similar to that shownin of the fl' 3 11 011% Fig, 1, and illustrating the path of the doorcorresponding depth, there being a shoulin opening and closing. der 12in the frog member 7 at the point Fig. 4 is a detail section on a largescale that the groove .11 turns away from the of a portion of Fig. 3.groove 9. Assuming the door to be in the 40 i Fig. 4 is a detailillustrating a portion position illustrated in Fig. 1, both the bot ofthe track arrangement as used in the ma tom casters are resting on thetrack mour rangement of 1 to 4, inclusive. bers 5. hen the door ispulled forward F g. 5 IS a detail View in vertical section in C108! them the {Hild l 1 taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. of the central casterupon striking theshoul- 45 Figs. 6 nd 7 re Tetil views f forms der 12are turned so that the wheels o fthis of agt r nd amid be d i {h casterturn through an angle of 90 degrees apparatusillustrated in Figs. 1 to5, inon to illeh'ilfk 1119111119136, Quid? elusive. shoe being at alevel above the shoulder In "the dl'awin 1 iiidicatesthe rear wall 12 isnot affected thereby and this shoe. is

50 of'the closet designed to hold clothing or f Seflirient h rizontallength in the rear of for other purposes, and2is a door adapted thecaster that the front end the shoeis to be'inoved into "a positionparallel to the guided intothe extension grhove 9' ofgroove wall 1, butillustrated in Fig. 1 as at right 9 in frog member 7. When the doorsangles tofsaid Wall. Door 2, according to being moved from closed toopeh position.

SB EinrYn'ifefitiGn, 'is' 'iiiouiited on casters 3, 3, the casters runin the reverse in anneflthere "1 being no tendency for the wheels totake the wrong direction, however, when the door is being opened.

The casters 3, 3, 'n'e'terably comprise a supporting plate 13 designedto lie parallel with one face oi. the door and to be attached thereto byscrews or other suitable means. On one side, the plate 13 has fixedthereto a pair of guide lugs 14, 14, which are aperturcd to receive thestem 15, at the lower end of which the wheels are mounted. Casters 3, 3,preferably comprise a spring 16 surrounding the stem 15 and compressedbetween the upper one of the lugs 1% and a washer 17, the springs 16thus supporting the weight of the door and serving to equal.- ize anyinequalities in the track. By arranging the tracks so that the guidinggrooves coincide as far as possible in the portion of the lengths atright angles to the rear wall 1, we can set the axes of the casters 3,3, in the. same vertical plane and can thus insert the casters into therecesses out into the door. The entire caster mechanism can thus becontained within the original outline of the door. thus utilizing thespace in the closet to best advantage. Evidently the track portion 5, 5may extend toward the rear of the closet as far as de sired, so that noportion of the door need project at the front when the door is open.

Preferably, we provide the caster mechanism with corresponding tracks 19and, 20 at the top of door 2 similar to that at. the bottom. However,the casters 3, 3 at the top of the door, being free from the weight ofthe door, their springs are relatively Erec from distortion and can bereadily compressed to permit the doors being installed in or removedfrom their tracks.

The door mechanism illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5. inclusive. may beoperated with ease by a single motion of the hand.

While we have disclosed the preferred our bodiment of our invention, wedo not wish to be limited to details of our disclosure herein except assuch details may be essential to the novelty of the appended claims. Inparticular, we wish it understood that wherever we have mentioned acloset that we intend to include a garage or other enclosure, ourinvention being peculiarly well suited to large doors and to situationswhere the door when open. must not project bevond the position of thedoor when closed. We ind also that wheels are not essential on the upperedge of the doors according to our iii-- rention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. The combination of a door, wheeled casters bearing the weight of saiddoor,

means for holding said door vertical, connected tracks for said castersset at an angle, a branch track fornilng a. continuation of one of saidtracks. means forming iiicd guide grooves adjacent said tracks, aprojection on one 0? said casters co-opcrat in with the said grooves forturning said door, and means for directing a second caster onto saidbranch track in a turning movement of the door.

2.. The combination oi a. door, wheeled casters bearing the weight ofsaid door. means for holding said d tical, (01h net-ted tracks for saidcasters set at an angle, a branch track forming a continuation of one ofsaid tracks, means forming fixed guide grooves adjacent said tracks, thegroove adjacent said branch track being relatively shallow, projectionson said casters cooperating with said grooves for turning said door, andmeans whereby the projec tion on one of said casters is guided into saidshallow groove and the projection on the other of said casters is guidedinto the groove associated with one of said. firstmentioned tracks inturning the door when the door is moving in a given direction.

3. The combination of a door, wheeled casters bearing the weight of saiddoor, means for holding said door vertical, connected tracks tor saidcasters set at an angle, a branch track forming a continuation of one.of said tracks, means forming guide grooves adjacent said tracks andbranch, and projections on said casters co-opcrating with said groovesfor turning said door, said projections comprising two spaced prongs onopposite sides of the vertical axis of one of said casters and a shoe onthe other of said casters.

4. The combination with a door of wheeled casters bearing the weight ofsaid. door, tracks tor said casters set at an angle and connected by a.curve, a branch track connected with and forming an extension of one ofsaid tracks, means for holding said door vertical, means forming fixedguide grooves adjacent all said tracks, said tracks and groovescoinciding for a portion of their lengths and then branching, the grooveof one oi. said branches being relatively shallow, and projections onsaid castare co-opcrating with said grooves for turning said door, saidprojections comprising a trailing shoe on one caster adapted to run insaid shallow groove and two prongs on the other caster projecting to agreater depth than. said shallow groove and being arranged on oppositesides of the vertical axis of the caster on which they are mounted.

5. A door mechanism for disappearing doors comprising a door mounted ona pair of wheeled casters fixed to its lower edge, guide means for saidcasters whereby the casters turn the door thru an angle in moving fromopen to closed position, guide means at the top of the door whereby thedoor is maintained vertical during its opening and closing movements,said casters being placed one on the vertical centre line of the doorand the other on the lower corner which lies nearer the rear of theenclosure with which the door is used when the door is open, said guidemeans including means forming straight grooves running in directionsforming an angle, a frog having a curved groove connecting said straightgrooves and having a straight groove portion forming an extension of oneof said straight grooves and of less depth than said curved groove andsaid straight grooves at their points of connection with said curvedgroove, whereby a shoulder is formed at the point Where said curvedgroove turns off from said extension, and uides on said casterscooperating with said grooves, the one of said guides on said centralcaster being adapted to run around said curved groove and the other ofsaid ides being adapted to overrun said shou der and to pass into saidextension.

HOWARD A. JOHNSON. CHARLES MAISEY.

